Sport

OUR GREATEST TEAM: Egerton CC - Mike Hall

ONE of my first names on the team-sheet is Paul Tebay – the youngest of three cricketing brothers whose father played for the county, Paul was a fearless, tenacious and well organised opening batsman.

His 10,611 BCL runs (including 13 centuries) were invariably compiled with a fierce determination and sound application against all forms of bowling. In 1987 he hit 942 runs to pick up the League’s Amateur Player of the Year.

Then Dave Seddon’s abilities with both bat and ball saw him get almost 7,000 runs and over 650 wickets for Egerton and local rivals Eagley, over a relatively short career. He is probably best remembered for his astute captaincy of the BCL side that saw great success in the early 1980s.

Kevin Tebay was the father of Paul and played for Lancashire from 1961-63 and scored more than 6,500 runs in the Bolton Cricket League.

He was a key member of Egerton’s Hamer Cup winning team of 1970 and 1971.

He was probably best known for his buckskin (fawn) pads and astute knowledge of the game Our professional would be Parvez Jamil Mir who joined in 1977 and was fundamental to five years of unprecedented success that included the Lancashire KO victory in 1977, followed up by Hamer Cup wins in 1978 and 1981.

He scored more than 1,000 runs on four occasions – in 1978 (1,051), 1979 (1,255), 1980 (1,100) 1985 (1,068).

Keith Hornby has a long and distinguished career with Egerton and Tonge, broken by spells as professional outside the League, Keith compiled 11,185 BCL runs (including six centuries). His best year with the bat was probably 1994 when he scored 717 runs at an average of 51.21, which earned him the league batting prize.

A particular highlight was his captaincy of the 1992 Hamer Cup winning side.

Leading the team out would be Bob Goslin and while you won’t find Bob featuring greatly in Bolton Cricket League’s books of cricketing statistics; his name was the first on peoples’ lips when this team was first mooted. He was a very calm and measured leader and astute captain, whose middle order hitting is legendary.

Stuart Hornby was the son of Keith and one of the very few genuine allrounders still plying their trade in the Bolton Cricket League.

His work with the ball was fully deserving of the League’s Bowling Prize in 1997 when he returned 59 league wickets at 15.11. His total 1997 haul of 77 wickets remains the record for an amateur bowler at Egerton. Over the years his batting has also developed to the extent he was recognised as Batsman of the Year in 2009.

Amal Dalugoda is a relatively newcomer to the Club but has established himself as one of the League’s finest left arm spinners. His record includes 100 wickets achieved at Astley Bridge in 2003, and more recently the League Bowling Prize – having taken 71 wickets at 11.79 in 2013.

While his Egerton career was sadly cut short with his move to the antipodes in the mid 1970s, Brian Kendall was a highly accomplished fast bowler from Longworth Road who provided the cutting edge to the team that achieved the Hamer Cup double at the start of that decade.

Ian Taylor was another fast bowler from Longworth Road, he provided the enthusiasm and cohesion that no successful team can do without. A stalwart of Egerton and an extremely successful Tonge team, he never gave less in claiming a massive 1,436 wickets in a playing career stretching over 30 years.

Having played a season at the county and toyed with professional football in the 1980s, Mark Wallwork arrived at Egerton at the end of the decade and rapidly claimed 291 victims before standing down from first XI cricket, via Farnworth CC, to concentrate on his dentistry work. You have to have one reserve and I would opt for Keith Johnson. He is far better know to those who watched their cricket in the 1970s as someone with a magnificent eye for a cricket ball and an ability to clear the straight boundary with all the finesse of a drowning man cutting his way out of a haystack.

My best Egerton Xl of all time: Paul Tebay Dave Seddon Kevin Tebay PJ Mir Keith Hornby Bob Goslin (c) Stuart Hornby Amal Dalugoda Brian Kendall Ian Taylor Mark Wallwork Reserve: Keith Johnson We want you to get in touch with us to tell us what you think of Mike’s team. Who do you think should also be in the mix?